When should you start planning your Christmas party?

I know, I know it is only May, we haven’t had summer yet and I am already writing blogs about Christmas parties. You may think I am crazy but actually this is the best time of year to start thinking about your office do. Planning your festive celebration should be a fun task but leave it too late and you could find yourself frantically searching for an available venue, not to mention a reliable caterer and decent entertainment.

So the sooner you get cracking with the Christmas party the more options there are for you to explore. And trust me there are plenty of options – in fact once you do get started with organising the Christmas party it can be difficult to know where to begin. I have found a great resource from ITA* that can help, they have created the ultimate Christmas party guide, covering everything – not just the venue but also choosing the right food and drink to making sure all of your guests can get home.

Here are some of my favourite tips:

When you have a venue shortlist, arrange site visits as soon as you can. This will allow you to build a rapport with the event co-ordinators at the venue. Which will make things easier in the later planning stages.

If you book earlier, some venues offer discounts and incentives meaning you get more for your money by booking earlier. Examples of this could be keeping prices the same as the previous year if you book before the end of the financial year, or offering added value such as complimentary canapés.

A formal dinner is always a great way to end the year, and suits itself perfectly to a company celebration. You really have the best of both by having a reception before you sit down, but then also have a delicious, sensational meal before the real party starts!

We highly recommended that you pre-book taxies, especially around Christmas. This way your guests will arrive on time and won’t be waiting around at the end of the night.

Take ideas from popular parties in the past, and be sure to find out about any past disasters to ensure they can be avoided!

Allocate a small amount of time in your daily tasks for planning, again try and ask willing colleagues to help with certain areas which may take longer.

There are loads more fantastic tips from ITA* in the Christmas Party guide and they also have a great selection of blogs on the ITA* website that are well worth checking out too.

This post is sponsored by ITA*. Follow the link for more information about Practically Perfect PA’s sponsored posts.